When Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her son Craig
cried because a friend had told him the disease would kill her.

"Craig, I'm not going to die from this," she recalled assuring him more
than four years ago.

Yesterday the governor's wife was at an MS walkathon in Hyannis, raising
money to help people live with the disease and talking about her experience.

"I would rather say, you're either going to be cured, or you're going
to die. I hate living with the thought," Romney said.

After a pause, she added, "But that's just the adjustment you go through
with that first year. The first year of the disease is horrible, because
you just can't stand living with this cloud that's over you and that's
sort of moved into your body."

Romney, 54, has kept a fairly low profile as the wife of Governor Mitt
Romney, but she says she is contemplating a more public role in the fight
against MS. Yesterday marked her second appearance this year to promote
the MS walkathon.

She left her Belmont home around 5:30 a.m. yesterday for Hyannis Village
Green to kick off the three-day, 50-mile MS Challenge Walk on Cape Cod.
Applause erupted when she was introduced. She walked steadily to the podium
and asked the audience if they knew anyone with MS.

Most raised their hands.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central
nervous system that affects about 400,000 people nationwide, according
to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Symptoms may be mild, such
as numbness in the limbs, or severe enough to cause blindness or paralysis.
The progress, severity, and symptoms for each individual cannot be predicted,
the society said.

Romney was diagnosed at about the time her husband took over the Salt
Lake City Olympics. When Mitt Romney was considering a run for governor,
she admitted she was reluctant to leave Utah because her health was improving
there. But she has continued an active life in Massachusetts, and regularly
rides horses, drives a car, and joins her family on ski trips.

Yesterday, Ann Romney described the disease as inconsistent.

"There are times when we're fine, and there are times when we're not,"
she explained. "Even the times when you're fine we have to be careful about
our energy and how we spend the energy."

Romney's diagnosis provided a measure of relief because it gave her
a name to go along with her sickness, she said.

Before being diagnosed with the illness, Romney had feared she may have
had Lou Gehrig's disease, she said.

"It settles in. You realize it's not going away in a few months. It
sinks in, and you know," she said in an interview.

Romney extolled medical advances in treating multiple sclerosis. She
praised Biogen, a Cambridge-base biotechnology company and MS Challenge
Walk sponsor, for "working hard to try to develop drugs to slow the disease."

However, she also praised those stricken with MS for their ability to
adapt to the limitations and challenges it poses.

"We have to be very conscientious about taking care of our health at
all times," she told the crowd. Romney said she may increase her public
profile as a crusader in the battle against multiple sclerosis.

"I'm thinking about it," she said, with a smile. "I'm pretty settled
with where I am with the disease."

The second annual MS Challenge Walk, organized by the Central New England
chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, thus far has raised
more than $1 million.

Proceeds will benefit Home Links, a new care management program to help
people with MS access private and public health care resources and services.